diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LocatedFileStatusFetcher.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LocatedFileStatusFetcher.java
index a039bc9748..1b1025e9da 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LocatedFileStatusFetcher.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LocatedFileStatusFetcher.java
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ private void registerInvalidInputError(List<IOException> errors) {
   private void registerError(Throwable t) {
     lock.lock();
     try {
-      if (unknownError != null) {
+      if (unknownError == null) {
         unknownError = t;
         condition.signal();
       }
@@ -368,4 +368,4 @@ public void onFailure(Throwable t) {
       registerError(t);
     }
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}